BoredCow.com BLOG

Despite fears about the languishing PC game industry, revenue seems to have grown a bit in 2009. According to PC Gaming Alliance’s Horizons Report, revenue hit $13.1 billion in 2009, versus $11 billion in 2008.

Don’t expect that growth to translate to increased shelf space for PC games, however. The report notes that digital distribution sales are way up, as are the sales of virtual items. “In 2009 we saw North America and Europe experience a rapid uptake in purchasing virtual items,” PCGA president Randy Stude said. “This model is what drove growth in Asia and we think it is just starting to come to Western markets.”

As expected, given the rise in digital distribution, packaged game sales have dropped for a second year, now accounting for just 20 percent of PC game revenue. It appears that PC games are going to go all digital unless we start seeing some really awesome cloth maps.

PC gaming revenue grew in 2009 as retail PC game sales shrank originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

“I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.” – English

“Jestem dowódcą Shepard, a to jest mój ulubiony sklep na cytadeli.” – Polish (machine translation)

In a GDC 2010 session entitled “Localizing Large RPGs,” which forms part of an ongoing localization summit, BioWare localization project manager Ryan Warden eloquently explored the revered developer’s process of adapting a huge, dialogue-driven game like Mass Effect 2 for alternative markets and languages. It may surprise you to learn that BioWare’s processes are significantly more elegant than hiring an army of workers to copy and paste lines of text into Google Translate.

With 450,000 words and 30,000 lines of voice-over in the English version, Mass Effect 2 demanded an active approach in its translation to eight languages, including Russian, Czech and Spanish. “Trying to manage this scope is almost unfathomable,” said Warden. “For BioWare titles, we don’t have the luxury of waiting for the title to be fully complete before starting localization.”

The concurrent process was designed to provide as much information and context to translators as possible, allowing them to focus on the job without having to request further information for each new conversation. BioWare compiled a complete localization kit, complete with a pronunciation guide (that’s crow-guhn, not kroggin!), an IP glossary, a collection of translator Q&A documents and an extensive character database. “Any time that a translator spends time asking questions and waiting for feedback … that’s wasted time,” Warden added. The goal, he said, was to “eliminate any doubt in the confidence of the translator.”

Continue reading GDC 2010: BioWare speaks up about Mass Effect 2’s localization

GDC 2010: BioWare speaks up about Mass Effect 2’s localization originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hot off the release of MAG, Sony has revealed that the game’s developer, Zipper Interactive, will be returning to the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs franchise for the development of SOCOM 4 on PS3, slated for release this fall.

Unlike the Slant 6-developed, online-only SOCOM: Confrontation and Zipper’s own MAG, this new SOCOM will include a full story-driven, single-player campaign comprised of 14 missions that the dev expects to offer around 12 hours of gameplay (according to IGN). Of course, the developer’s experience on the excellent 256-player MAG will undoubtedly be carrying over (in as many ways as possible) to the announced 32-player online component of its new project. Only 32 players? (We kid.)

Source — PlayStation.Blog
Source — IGN

SOCOM 4 announced for PS3, Zipper developing originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

EA Partners, a division of Electronics Arts, has announced an exclusive publishing agreement with two upcoming indie games — Hothead’s DeathSpank and Klei Entertainment’s Shank — which will allow a much wider (and ostensibly easier) path to distribution for both games. EA claims Shank will be available on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and PC this summer, while DeathSpank will be available on Xbox Live and PSN with no date yet announced.

“Our mission at EA Partners is to work with the best talent across the game industry, and we are thrilled to extend our expertise to the leading creative developers in downloadable indie games,” said EA Partners’ outreach director Jamil Moledina. “DeathSpank is engrossingly fun and hysterically funny … and Shank is an amazing experience.”

The EA Partners program has had some heavy hitters onboard, like Rock Band, Left 4 Dead 2, and Brütal Legend, but this marks the first time indie games have been brought into the fold. We’ve toured through DeathSpank before (with Ron Gilbert himself!), and Shank was just named a finalist at the Independent Games Festival, taking place during GDC next week in San Francisco.

It’s interesting to see EA move into the indie arena, much like 2K Games has done with 2K Play (think: The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and Axel and Pixel), but we’ll have to see how it plays out. Hopefully they’ll offer both in a Spank ‘n Shank special bundle. We spoke with EA’s Moledina and both developers, so stay tuned for more info shortly.

EA publishing ‘DeathSpank’ and ‘Shank’ on PSN, XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Crystal Dynamics has announced its first new game since the completion and launch of 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld. Set to debut in 2010, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will see the roadworthy leading lady come to undisclosed platforms — via download.

It wouldn’t be the first time the posh pot-smasher and exotic animal extinguisher stars in a downloadable format, as Tomb Raider: Anniversary was digitally distributed in the form of Tomb Raider: Legend DLC on Xbox 360 before getting a regular retail spot. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, however, is a standalone title that Crystal Dynamics GM Darrell Gallagher hopes will defy expectations.

“This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting,” he said. “Lara Croft is such an iconic character in videogames, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”

We expect to catch our first glimpse of the game at next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, along with an indication on what else Crystal Dynamics has in store. Since the studio is staffed for two projects, we can’t imagine this being the only Tomb Raider game in the works. The other might even have “Tomb Raider” in the title.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light to be an ‘original digital experience’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

As part of its latest financial results report today, Take-Two delayed Red Dead Redemption by several weeks. Previously scheduled to arrive on April 27, the game is now slated to release in North America on May 18 and internationally on May 21. The announcement doesn’t specify a reason for the move, though it’s worth pointing out that the new date moves Red Dead Redemption out of the publisher’s fiscal Q2 (February-April) and into its third quarter (beginning May 1). Update: During an investor call corresponding with the financial report, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick clarified that the delay was issued to extend the game’s pre-release marketing period.

Take-Two also notes that financial guidance for its fiscal 2010 has been adjusted to take the date change into account. While Read Dead Redemption was at the center of a controversy concerning developer Rockstar San Diego, a barrage of recent media assets and confirmation of retail pre-order bonuses seems to indicate that development is on track.

Red Dead Retribution date wrangled, pinned to May 18 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

click here for full version

Legendary game developer American McGee has posted concept for the Little Red Riding Hood game he’s planning to pitch to publishers at GDC 2010 next week — and wow, Little Red has never looked quite so badass. The art, put together by a few artists at the Spicy Horse Games studio, features a white-haired little girl embedding an axe (almost bigger than she is) in a demonic wolf’s skull. McGee probably has a pitch of his own all set up, but we look at a pic like that and can’t help but think, “My, what complicated weapon combos you must have.”

All the better to get published with, we suppose. We’ll be at GDC en masse next week, so we’ll do our best to corner Mr. McGee and see if he willing to tell us any more about this not-simply-fractured-but-actually-mauled fairytale. If this is what the little girl looks like, just wait until we see the Hunter.

[via GSW]

American McGee’s Little Red Riding Hood looks pretty Grimm originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we’re giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Jeffrey Sheen of Stargazy Studios. Unlike some of our other devs, he’s in the unique position of still crafting his first game, Huscarls.

How did your company get started?

I founded Stargazy Studios in September 2009 after resigning from my stable, well paid, successful (and centrally heated) office career. I’ve been infatuated with video games since my first rage quit out of Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II, and have always had my eyes open for potential ways to get involved in development.

Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Stargazy Studios

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Stargazy Studios originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The sixth developer diary for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been released and it features a new (yet familiar) location players will be able to visit when the MMO finally goes live. Devastated by the sinister Sith Lord Darth Malak in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the post-apocalyptic world of Taris will be a “major world” in the upcoming Bioware MMO. While the original vision for the ruined planet was to be a giant swamp-like crater, Bioware smartly decided to shape the environment as a vertical wasteland that both the Republic and Imperial factions are attempting to reshape.

Star Wars The Old Republic dev diary: Returning to Taris originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments